Flax & Hemp fibres reach a milestone at JEC World 2024

The strengthened partnership between the Alliance for European Flax-Linen & Hemp and the JEC Group has led to the creation of the "Natural Fibres Village," a 250m² space dedicated to natural fibre-based composites Linen & Hemp.
This unprecedented area allowed the Alliance to showcase its latest developments and the innovations of ten of its members: Bcomp, CultureIn, Demgy, Depestele, EcoTechnilin, Flipts & Dobbels, Safilin, Terre de Lin, and Texinov Tech.

New exhibitors included the internationally-renowned Belgian weaver Libeco, which took advantage of its inclusion in the "village" to unveil its 2D woven Linen reinforcements for the composites sector.

‘‘JEC World 2024 sees European Flax™ and Hemp fibres taking a global step forward in advancing the bioeconomy of the engineering and composites sector. These natural fibres, combining their remarkable physical properties and eco-friendly characteristics, allow the most innovative manufacturers in the composites industry to create massive reductions in their overall environmental impact. Backed by scientific validation, our work confirms that Flax and Hemp solutions now meet and exceed manufacturers’ expectations for performance, helping them align with the needs of industrial customers and end consumers in a cleaner composite future.”
Valentin Depestele - Président de la section des usages techniques Alliance for European Flax-Linen & Hemp.

Another exhibition space at the fair, "Planet JEC Mobility," provided members of the Greenboats Alliance and Depestele the opportunity to showcase the structure of the Sherpa-Greenlander camper made from reinforced Linen composite, which was a finalist in the JEC Innovation Awards 2024. Meanwhile, Polestar and Bcomp exhibited the dossier of the Polestar 3 SUV seat, which is made from Linen fibres.

Conference: "Natural fibres Flax & Hemp: solutions for the composites industry".

The Alliance for European Flax Linen & Hemp is committed to an environmental trajectory based on reliable data on the environmental impact of European Flax™ fibres - representing three-quarters of global production. Data on both long and short fibres of European Flax are now available in version 3.10 of the ecoinvent database. This data will enable industries and brands using European Flax™ to calculate the environmental impact of their products with representative and reliable data.

On 5th March 2024, the conference "Natural Fibres Linen & Hemp: Solutions for the Composites Industry" took place at JEC WORLD 2024 with representatives from the Alliance: Julie Pariset - Innovation & CSR Director, and Marie Demaegdt - Sustainability Director, alongside Gilles Koolen - Postdoctoral Researcher at KU Leuven and expert from the European Scientific Council of the Alliance for European Flax-Linen & Hemp.

Highlighting recent developments in Linen & Hemp composites, emphasizing the environmental trajectory of European Linen, the speakers explained to the audience that European Linen and Hemp are inspiring the composites industry while meeting the expectations and sustainable development approach of manufacturers and their clients.